Written by / Jacob
Edited / Zhang Nan
Design / Zhao Haoran
Throughout 2020, I've been on the run, except for the brief consternation of the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak. Taking November before the publication of this issue of the magazine as an example, the first half of the year has just finished the Xuanyuan Award Xiangyang test, in the middle of the year I went to Changchun to start the third module course of the First Phase of Xuanyuan University, and in the second half of the year, I held the award ceremony of the China Automotive Supply Chain Summit and the Lingxuan Award of the China Auto Parts Industry Annual Contribution Award in Wuhan. Then, fast forward to December, and a series of things like the 8th Xuanyuan Awards Ceremony, the annual Automotive Business Review New Year's Eve Talk, and so on awaited me...
But now, on the run, my colleagues and I are already starting to miss 2020. I believe that I miss 2020 as strongly as I do. This year, the team led by Shenyang not only has a reputation in China and the world for the Wuling brand mask of "what the people need, What Wuling will make" and the new Wuling Hongguang MINIEV, but more importantly, they have the spirit of "serving the people" in the new era of indomitable, market-based, flexible response, rapid response and keeping pace with the times in a complex real environment. It can be said that in 2020, they not only stopped the downward trend that began in 2018, but also basically completed the organizational innovation of the operation of the two brand divisions that "originated from the market and finally the market", laying a new foundation for the future to take off again.
The cover story of this issue, "Serving the People", details the turning points that have taken place in these years, especially in 2020, for this mainstream Chinese automobile company, which is a complex but simple identity in a corner of Guangxi. It has certain reference significance for the next step of traditional car companies in transition or traditional car companies in distress. Our colleagues in the design department even said after reading this article that they also wanted to buy Wuling's car. Of course, the leaders of SAIC-GM-Wuling definitely hope that everyone will also buy the new Baojun car, which is also the direction they will strive for in the future.
It is a well-known fact that the industry is changing dramatically. What kind of car to build, users will like, such a problem torments all auto people, including the new Baojun brand division. More and more people know to build cars around the user experience and around the scene, but a lot of it is on paper. Zhang Xiaoliang, a columnist for Automotive Business Review, pointed out pointedly that this is because they lack sufficient understanding of what a "scene" is, and there may be many uncontrollable factors in the scene library from the construction method to the docking with subsequent product definition and development work, which eventually leads to many scene libraries built in the past two years being reduced to or close to being reduced to a flashy decoration.
Another of our columnists, Chang Bing, argued in his article "The Justice of Familialization" that the familialization of car design has various benefits in the past, such as significantly reducing the risk of stylistic innovation and trial and error, making modular, generalized cost-reduction planning logic more comprehensively implemented, and easier to create a strong brand image. But now he thinks a new change is happening, which is to think that this sense of identification with familial design is a manifestation of inner insecurity, and then more and more users are rejected and rejected.
From the effective construction of the scene library to the breaking of the family design, I think the story and construction of the Chinese auto industry are increasingly profoundly affecting the development of the global auto industry. I am proud that this series of things I have done is also driving the construction and practice of this understanding.
At the Chilang Phase 1 course in Changchun, Mr. Xu Liuping, Chairman of China FAW, shared his views and practice summaries on the leadership model of excellence to Xuanyuan University students, and shared an exclusive learning curve, learning schedule and learning methodology. In 2020, I believe that he will also miss it very much, this year, the country's top leader visited China FAW, in addition to putting forward the requirements of "we must get our national brand up" and "master the key technologies and core technologies in our own hands", there is also approval for FAW's "unique scenery". To this end, he gave Xuanyuan University students a courseware title of 64 words: "Firmly serve the country with the original intention of the industry, bravely undertake the mission of automobile power, build an outstanding leadership team based on value creators, seize the opportunity of the great transformation of China's automobile industry under the new development pattern, and accelerate the progress towards a world-class automobile enterprise".
At the China Automotive Supply Chain Summit in Wuhan, many OEM purchasing leaders and a wide range of parts and components managers shared their insights. More importantly, these OEMs purchased as judges of the Lingxuan Award, and also very carefully selected the winners worthy of the name from 145 application cases, after several rounds of voting and discussion. In addition, they enthusiastically nominated the Suzun Award for The Watchman Award. These are all parts and components companies that have made great contributions to the supply of OEMs in 2020, and this is the only time in the history of the Lingxuan Award that the award has been established. Mu Wen, vice president of purchasing at Beijing Benz, who proposed this award, believes that 2020 will also be unforgettable. She said: "The supplier partners in Wuhan offered to say whether they could take their molds and equipment to competitors. We really did this and quickly helped us finish production. That part is in short supply all over the world, and we would have to stop production without us. When this supplier partner made this request, as a purchaser, I really didn't expect it. "We hope that years later, the automotive industry will recall 2020, not only the disaster that fell from the sky, but also the warmth and strength that surpassed business."
Of course, what these procurement officers did not expect was that the Chinese cars that had survived the epidemic and survived the disaster of life and death all the way to the global car scene were encountered under the "core door" of the Sino-US trade war in the closing month of the year. The epidemic has encountered a great power game, and everything is more complicated. The "door of life and death" of the automotive industry suddenly changed from the engine to the chip, which is also an important reason why the Lingxuan Award awarded the only gold medal in the mass production category to the Horizon Journey 2 car specification-level AI chip. It is believed that Yu Kai, founder and CEO of Beijing Horizon Information Technology Co., Ltd., will always miss 2020, which is not only a variety of honors but also the most important investment.
Also missing 2020 is Herbert Diess, 62-year-old CEO of Volkswagen Group, who retained his position after a year of game with the supervisory board. He's a big believer in software-defined cars, he believes in the future of electric cars, but despite this, reporters recently asked him how many times a month you would suspect that this radical approach might not be the right one. His answer was flat: "The last time I suspected it was 10 years ago. Since then, the goals and the route have been clear. We want to produce carbon-free cars and achieve the emission reduction targets of our fleet. How to do this, the answer is clear. "So, let's not underestimate british prime minister Boris Johnson's announcement on November 18, 2020, that he will bring forward the ban on fuel vehicles in the UK to 2030." Perhaps, some people will miss the fuel car from now on.
The trend of the times, the haohao soup, the one who goes along with it, the one who goes against it dies. Nostalgic for 2020, we do not lament the passing of time, but appreciate the short-lived flash in our lives that is difficult to experience again but eager to come back.